Thread: OR - 'ICE Out of Woodburn' rally scheduled for Monday

Created on Sunday, 19 March 2017 | Written by Julia Comnes

Organizers say rally will address the climate of fear in Woodburn's immigrant community


INDEPENDENT FILE PHOTO - Woodburn residents march on Nov. 11 to protest the election of Donald Trump.

Immigrant rights nonprofits Voz Hispana Cambio Comunitario and Milenio are hosting an "ICE Out of Woodburn" rally on Monday starting at 4:30 p.m. at the Woodburn Memorial Transit Facility, located on Highway 214 and Evergreen Road near the Columbia Bank. The rally will address recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests that have taken place both in and near Woodburn.

"Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents continues (sic) their campaign of terror in Woodburn," reads the event's Facebook page. "ICE agents are leaving children without their parents, ICE agents are terrorizing neighborhoods, ICE agents are terrorizing businesses, and ICE agents are creating an environment of fear."

According to event organizers Maricela Vidal Gonzalez, Ramiro Ramos Lopez and Michelle Loeza, the event's main goals are to address the current climate of fear in the Woodburn immigrant community and to empower Woodburn's immigrant residents. Vidal Gonzalez, Ramos Lopez and Loeza are all graduates of the Academy of International Studies and are current students at Chemeketa Community College.

For the organizers, the ICE arrests in Woodburn have hit home. Ramos Ramirez is the child of immigrants, Vidal Gomez is a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, and Michelle Loeza's father, Saul Loeza, was detained by ICE agents last month.

Saul Loeza has since been released, but his arrest was the first publicized ICE detention to take place in Woodburn following the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Michelle Loeza said there's been a tangible change in the Woodburn community since the recent ICE arrests began.

"Downtown Woodburn is not the same anymore," Michelle Loeza said. "There's not a lot of people like there used to be: families walking, kids going to the park, going to stores… A lot of people aren't going out because of the fear that they have that they can get pulled over."

The organizers said they want to address that fear, but also tell immigrants living in Woodburn that they're not alone.

"We just want to provide a safer environment for anybody who's trying to reach a better life here in America," Ramos Lopez said. "We want to make sure nobody feels threatened by ICE agents and we want to let the ICE agents know that what they're doing is traumatizing."

Vidal Gonzalez said the idea for the rally came about after the three students attended the ICE Out of Oregon rally on March 6, which took place outside of the ICE office in downtown Portland. Vidal Gonzalez connected with Juan Rogel, executive director of Milenio, about holding a similar rally in Woodburn.

Rogel said the rally will be an opportunity for the nonprofits to educate and conduct outreach in the Woodburn community.

"We want to create a dialogue and let people know if Woodburn needs an intervention from different groups that they can count on us," Rogel said.

The rally is scheduled to run from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

http://pamplinmedia.com/wbi/152-news...led-for-monday

I think ICE should pay a visit to the anti-ICE rally.

Woodburn and Oregon is such a beautiful State. Please get them all out of there and ramp up deportations.

They are destroying our neighborhoods and beautiful countryside.